Category Archives: Devotion

MANY HATS

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“The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day.”           Genesis 18:1 NIV

 

We all wear many different hats. For instance, I am a husband, a father, a brother, a Pastor, a friend, among many other things. Genesis 18 reveals various hats of the man named Abraham. In the beginning of this Chapter, Abraham is visited personally by the Lord. During this visit we are given a glimpse of these various hats of this man of faith. As Abraham is revealed to us here, we see some characteristics in his life that could be seen in all our lives. Abraham wore the hat of being a Servant of the Lord. He sprang into action to serve the Lord who came in the form of three visitors. He wore the hat of a Saint. A “saint”, Yes! One who has been set apart by our Lord, not perfect, but in the process of being perfected by the Lord. The One who set Abraham apart and has set us apart to serve Him with enthusiasm as did Abraham. Abraham wore the hat of Mediator or Intercessor. He stood before the Lord on behalf of Lot and his family. We have been called to wear the same hat. Some questions: Are you His servant, running eagerly and speedily to do His will? Are you His saint, listening intently as He reveals His will and ways to you? Are you His son/daughter, His child, interceding before the throne of the Heavenly Father on behalf of those who do not have access to Him? Do you need to work on one or more of these areas of your relationship with the Lord?

 

PRAYER THOUGHT

Lord, may we serve You as eager servants, saints and intercessors.

 

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Lord, through the energizing power of your Holy Spirit, may we serve You as servants, saints and intercessors to the glory of Your name. AMEN

 

INTERNATIONAL BIBLE READING ASSOCIATION (IBRA)

Psalm 119:33-40

 

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THE PROMISE EXTENDED

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God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah.”       Genesis 17:15 NIV

 

The Lord’s promise to Abraham is extended to Sarai also. She is to have this child of promise, and she is to be the mother of multitudes. Her name is also changed from “Sarai”, which means “My Princess” to “Sarah”, which means “Princess”. When Abraham hears this, he laughs. It is not a laugh of doubt, but of joy at what the Lord is about to do in his life. He is so excited thinking about the power of the Lord that he prays for the Lord to bless Ishmael also. What prayer? Asking the Lord to bless the result of a decision that was made from impatience. This prayer is heard and answered by the Lord! Here is Abram who was looking at a bleak future when the day began. Now he is thrilled by the possibilities. Let us be reminded today as there is no cause that is beyond hope when it involves the Lord. Our future is as bright as the size of our faith! When we involve our Lord in every situation of our lives, the impossible becomes immediately possible. Remember the Living Lord we serve holds today and tomorrow in His hands, and He is greater than both! Rejoice that we serve a wonderful Lord Who is interested in us. When we exercise minute faith in His Word, He honours that with blessings which cannot be calculated for value. What are you trusting Him for this day? Is there a dark spot on your today or on your future? Bring it to Him, fall down before Him and worship Him like Abraham did and He will bless your life!

 

PRAYER THOUGHT

In humble worship, Lord, we surrender all to Your possibilities.

 

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Lord, whatever dark spot is on our day or on our future, we bring it to You, falling down before You and worshiping You like Abraham did and thanking You for blessing our lives. AMEN

 

INTERNATIONAL BIBLE READING ASSOCIATION (IBRA)

Revelation 21:1-5a

 

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A NEW REQUIREMENT

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“This is My covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.”         Genesis 17:10 NIV

 

Abraham and all his descendants are required to be circumcised. They were to be identified as followers of the Lord by a mark in their bodies. Submitting to circumcision was a statement that “this person is part of the Abrahamic covenant, and the promises of the Lord are his.” This mark was both painful and private. Whether anyone else knew of it or not, the person circumcised, and the Lord knew about it. We are not required to do this to be followers of the Lord today. However, the New Testament speaks of a “circumcision of the heart” performed not with human hands, but through the ministry and power of the Holy Spirit. These verses speak of the circumcision of the heart – Romans 2:28-29; Galatians 5:6; Colossians 2:11; Galatians 6:15. Without being circumcised, no one could enter this covenant relationship with the Lord. For us a spiritual circumcision is necessary for a relationship with the Lord. This is accomplished only through coming to Jesus Christ by faith. Being born from above through the power and ministry of the Holy Spirit. Many in our day think that rituals are still how one approaches the Lord. Nothing could be farther from the truth! Works can never save the soul! It takes faith to please the Lord. It always has and always will! It took faith to follow the Lord and carry out this command, which Abraham did without hesitation. Have you experienced that spiritual circumcision that forever changes your life and your destination?

 

PRAYER THOUGHT

Holy Spirit thank you for changing my heart to follow the Lord.

 

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Holy Spirit, thank You for carrying out heart surgery on my heart that it is forever changed, committed to walk by faith and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. AMEN

 

INTERNATIONAL BIBLE READING ASSOCIATION (IBRA)

1 Corinthians 15:50-58

 

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FRUITFUL AND FAITHFUL

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“I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.”        Genesis 17:6 NIV

 

The Lord promises Abraham children, crowds and crowns. He promised him things that, at that moment in his life, he couldn’t even imagine! Sounds like us, doesn’t it? Think of where He found us, what He has done in our lives and where we are headed. Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? I have discovered that the farther I travel down this walk with our Lord, the sweeter His promises become! We can only be thankful that every single one is true! Remember, He will make our lives fruitful for His glory if we will abide in Him, John 15:5. The Lord promises not only to bless Abraham, but his children and all the generations of Abraham’s seed as well. This is a covenant that is as good as the Name of the Lord and that will endure as long as He endures. We can only thank the Lord that we can count on His faithfulness! “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23). Praise the Lord that He is faithful and true. He will not renege on His promises. He will not fail us. We may fall short, but He never will! He is ever faithful! The Lord promises to be personal to the seed of Abraham, to you and me. What a blessing to serve the Lord who desires a personal relationship with the likes of you and me! Enabling us to be fruitful for He is faithful.

 

PRAYER THOUGHT

Lord, as You are faithful to Your Word, make us fruitful to Your glory.

 

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Thank You, Lord, for promising to be personal to the seed of Abraham, to us. What a blessing to serve You who desires a personal relationship with us. Making us to be fruitful for You are faithful. AMEN

 

INTERNATIONAL BIBLE READING ASSOCIATION (IBRA)

Luke 2:36-40

 

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FACEDOWN

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“Abram fell facedown, and God said to him.”               Genesis 17:3 NIV

 

Abram immediately fell on his face at the first appearance of the Lord. The brightness of the Lord’s glory would strike any person to the ground. The point is this: Abram humbled himself before the Lord, he got as low as he could to show reverence for the Lord, that he was ready to listen and to receive whatever message the Lord had for him. The Lord said two things to Abram: He reminded Abram that it was He who had been chosen to receive the covenant of the promised seed. He and he alone, not someone else, had been chosen to be the father of many nations. This was the Lord’s call alone. The Lord alone called Abram. When our Lord calls us, any of us, to serve Him, we must humble ourselves before Him and listen to His call. The Lord changed Abram’s name to Abraham (Genesis 17:5). The meaning of Abram is exalted father; the meaning of Abraham is the father of a multitude. This experience with the Lord was to be a turning point in Abram’s life: the promised seed was soon to be born through Sarai. The Lord gave Abram a new name to remind him of this experience with Him. This was the Lord’s great call and covenant, His great assurance to fulfil His promise. Our Lord has given each of us the very name of His own dear Son, Christian (Acts 11:26; 26:28; 1 Peter4:16). The great need of the hour is for us to humble ourselves before the Lord and remember the great name He has given us, the name of Christian. Reminding of our conversion, call and His promises.

 

PRAYER THOUGHT

Lord, remind us of what it means to carry the name of Christian.

 

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Lord, as Abram was humbled, may we be humbled by the privilege of being called a Christian, and reminded of our conversion, call and Your amazing promises. AMEN

 

INTERNATIONAL BIBLE READING ASSOCIATION (IBRA)

1 Peter 5:1-11

 

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HIS PROMISE AND PLAN

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“Then I will make My covenant between Me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”       Genesis 17:2 NIV

 

The Lord simply reminds Abram of the promises He has made to him in the past. He will make of him a great nation and He will bless Abram. This revelation and reminder cause Abram to fall at His feet in worship! Do we see His blessings in our lives as a catalyst to worship and praise? This covenant is one-sided. The Lord will bless Abram because He wants to! In other words, the covenant is good because it depends on the Lord and not a human being! Praise the Lord, our salvation is in His hands and not ours. Here, Abram receives a name change. His name is changed from “Abram”, which means “Exalted Father”, to “Abraham” which means “Father of a Multitude”. To Abraham it does not appear that this is the case. From the Lord’s perspective, it is a done deal! Notice the words, “You will be the father of many nations.” (Genesis 17: 4). Even though Abraham couldn’t see it, God had already completed His plan through Abraham. Life is never like we think it is! All we can see are the obstacles and the trials that we face in life. Our Lord sees our present as well as the future that He has already accomplished. The essence of faith is merely walking in the present, holding in our hands the things the Lord has placed in the future! Whatever we may be facing, our Lord has already taken care of it for you. We merely need to be patient until we arrive at that time where His provision is manifested.

 

PRAYER THOUGHT

Lord, teach us to be patient as we wait for Your provision.

 

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Whatever we may be facing, Lord, we praise and thank You, that You have already taken care of it for us. Teach us to be patient until we arrive at that time where Your provision is manifested. AMEN

 

INTERNATIONAL BIBLE READING ASSOCIATION (IBRA)

Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:7

 

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OUR WALK

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When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before Me faithfully and be blameless.”         Genesis 17:1 NIV

 

How can we arouse our faith, have a fresh, stirring experience with our Lord? Make a new commitment to walk before Him and to live a blameless life through the power and ministry of His indwelling Holy Spirit. Our lives as followers of the Lord Jesus are not a static, complacent life. When Our Lord gives us a fresh revelation, some new insight or knowledge, He expects us to act, to put the new knowledge to use, and to grow thereby. This was true of Abram. The Lord gave Abram a fresh revelation of Himself as the Almighty God, but He also told Abram to recommit his life and to do so more diligently than ever before. Abram was to make some commitments. He was to walk before the Lord. This means to live step by step in the presence of the Lord. To live moment by moment in fellowship with the Lord. To live in an unbroken consciousness of the Lord and to always be aware of His presence, power, and security. This means that we are to live before Him in a spirit of devotion, worship, fellowship and service. That we do not walk behind Him nor ahead of Him. But we walk before Him, conscious that He can see us and that He has the power to look after and care for us. It means that we are aware of His power to see and know all, aware that He will judge us for all we do. This can only result in a life blessed by the Lord.

 

PRAYER THOUGHT

Lord, may we always walk before You, not behind nor ahead of You.

 

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Lord, what a great blessing it is to walk before You, stop us from walking behind and from running ahead of You, through the ministry of Your Holy Spirit in our lives. AMEN

 

INTERNATIONAL BIBLE READING ASSOCIATION (IBRA)

Ephesians 4:11-16

 

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A NEW REVELATION

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When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before Me faithfully and be blameless.”         Genesis 17:1 NIV

 

After thirteen years of silence, the Lord appears to Abram in a new revelation and with a new name – God Almighty. In the Hebrew it is El Shaddai, which essentially means “the God who is sufficient,” the all-competent God, the adequate God, who knows what He is doing and how to do it. There is a tenderness in this name because the word “Shaddai” comes from the Hebrew word for “breast”. Just as a baby receives strength and nourishment from its mother’s breast, so the children of the Lord receive all they need from the hand of the “Almighty God”. This is an indication that Abram has learned something from his recent bitter experience. The Lord says, in effect, “You have been learning for thirteen years the total inadequacy of your own efforts, through Ishmael. Now learn a new thing about me. I am El Shaddai. You have discovered by sad experience how futile your plans and efforts can be without Me. Now learn how capable I am to do everything that I desire to do, whenever I desire to do it.” Would that we could all discover this truth afresh! We need desperately to recover the reality of El Shaddai, the Lord who is sufficient for whatever we are going through right now! This is what Abram learned. In this new light from the Lord came a new demand from Him. “Walk before me faithfully and be blameless.” We too, like Abram, have been called to walk faithfully and be blameless before our Lord.

 

PRAYER THOUGHT

Lord, help us to walk faithfully and blameless through Your Holy Spirit.

 

PRAYER FOR TODAY

As You are the Lord Almighty, our Nourisher and Strength, we choose to walk faithfully and blameless in the power of Your indwelling Holy Spirit. AMEN

 

INTERNATIONAL BIBLE READING ASSOCIATION (IBRA)

1 Timothy 4:7b-16

 

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THE LORD SPEAKS AGAIN

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When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before Me faithfully and be blameless.”           Genesis 17:1 NIV

 

Our last view of Abram found him attempting to help the Lord. He was trying to solve a problem he felt was far too hard for the Lord. He and Sarai felt they had the solution to the problem, and Abram took Hagar, Sarai’s handmaid, for a wife. Of that union was born Ishmael, Israel’s continual thorn in the flesh until this day. Thirteen years elapsed between the account of Chapter 16 and that of Chapter 17, and we can well suspect these were years of unhappiness and unrest in the household of Abram. The presence of Ishmael in the home created endless contempt, bitterness, envy, jealousy, weariness of spirit, and rebellion. These thirteen years were designed of the Lord to teach Abram the folly of acting on his own. Perhaps you have had some similar experience, when the Lord has allowed you to have your own way, and the results have been most distressing. You were permitted to go your own headstrong way in order that you might learn the folly of acting apart from the Lord. One of the most frightening things about life with the Lord is this fact: that, if we insist upon having our own way, He will often let us have it, till you are sorry you asked for it. ” So He gave them what they asked for,” (Psalms 106:15 NIV) But after thirteen years of heartache, a new aspect of God’s grace opens before Abram. New developments are unfolded in Chapter 17.

 

PRAYER THOUGHT

Lord, we repent of insisting on doing things our own way.

 

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Lord Your ways are just and true, and we repent of always seeking our way instead of Your way in doing things. AMEN

 

INTERNATIONAL BIBLE READING ASSOCIATION (IBRA)

Exodus 18:9-27

 

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HE SEES THE SINNER

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“That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.”             Genesis 16:14 NIV

 

By birth, Hagar, like all of us, was a sinner. Yet, the eye of the Lord was upon her. She ran away, but she could not get away from the gaze of the One Who sees. If you are lost, you may think the Lord doesn’t think about you. The truth is, He sees all we do. He is there when the thought of sin is conceived. He is there when the deed of sin is carried out. He will be watching when the sentence of sin is carried out. Imagine the difference in any trial held on this planet, if the judge enters the courtroom and says, “I saw it all!” Well, the Lord of heaven and earth can and will say that! There will be no hiding. But the One who knows the past and the future, and says to us as He said to Hagar, “Return and submit?” That is the place of promised blessing. We are also told that this well is located between Kadesh and Bered. Kadesh means “holiness” and Bered means “hail” or “judgment.” Here is the well of grace, lying between holiness and judgment. When we begin to stray from the place of God’s blessing toward the certainty of judgment, God meets us on the way, at the well of grace, saying, “Now wait a minute. I don’t want to have to make this known to others. I don’t want to judge you openly. I don’t want to bring trial or affliction or heartache into your life to make you listen. Listen now. Return and submit so I won’t have to do this.” That is the well of grace. Will you drink from the well of grace?

 

PRAYER THOUGHT

Lord, thank You that we can return to drink from Your well of grace.

 

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Lord, You see everything in our lives, even our sin, and You call us to drink from Your well of grace, returning to You, submitting to You and finding life in Your name. AMEN

 

INTERNATIONAL BIBLE READING ASSOCIATION (IBRA)

1 Samuel 1:9-20

 

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